LOWELL -- With his reputation "shredded," his job and pension gone, a former Lowell Superior Court probation officer was sentenced to two years probation Friday after pleading guilty to pocketing $10,000 in fees from his probationers and then falsifying documents to cover his theft.

In Lowell District Court Friday, Benjamin Okiwe, 39, of Quincy, pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of larceny under $250, for which Judge Thomas Brennan sentenced him to probation. A charge of larceny by a single scheme was placed on file without a change of plea for 10 years.

The conditions of Okiwe's probation require that he resign from his $52,445-per-year job, which he has done, and neither contest nor re-apply for a probation position, and he must stay away from the probationers he victimized. Okiwe has already paid $10,025 in restitution to the state.

Prosecutor Marian Ryan requested a sentence of one year in jail, with nine months to serve, and the remainder of the sentence suspended for five years while Okiwe is on probation.

"The serious aggravating factor here is the breach of trust," Ryan said. "These are people who have no access to bank accounts and pay by cash, but their hard-earned cash disappeared."

Defense attorney Stephen Huggard, who represents Okiwe pro bono, said his client took the money "to help" probationers. Okiwe told police he would take the cash and get money orders, which he paid for himself, that were used to pay the probationers' fees.

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"He did what he did as a misguided attempt to help people, but what he did was wrong," Huggard said. "He's been punished severely. His pension -- his only asset --is gone. His career is gone. He is a shredded and defeated man."

Huggard said his client overcame his own circumstances to become the former boys basketball coach at Lincoln-Sudbury, who resigned to help Boston's disadvantaged youths. Okiwe's nonprofit organization, Young Savants, works to reduce truancy, increase academic success and improve self-esteem, according to its website.

Okiwe was hired as an associate probation officer in 2006. The following year he was promoted to probation officer in Middlesex Superior Court. The salary range for a probation officer is $46,155 to $65,000.

According to court documents, Okiwe became the focus of an investigation in August 2010 after then-acting Chief Probation Officer Maureen McEachern learned that one of Okiwe's probationers complained that he had not received a receipt for cash payments of $65 per month he made in March through June 2010.

Defendants who are on probation pay $65 per month in probation-supervision fees, as well as a DNA testing fee of $110 and possible restitution.

But as of Feb. 1, 2010, a new policy went into effect in which probation officers were no longer allowed to accept cash from probationers. Checks and money orders were the only way to pay fees, except in Middlesex Superior Court where the Probation Department issues a receipt for cash.

Probation officers were notified of the change in policy at a Jan. 22, 2010, meeting, which Okiwe attended.

Sometimes a judge will allow a probationer to do community service in lieu of paying fees. Probation officers have the power to "violate" probationers by ordering them into court on a probation violation and possibly sending them back to jail or prison, according to sources.

McEachearn was shown evidence that Okiwe continued collecting cash payments. In reviewing many of Okiwe's files, officials found fraudulent community-service forms for work that was never done at Lowell Superior Court.

Many of the probationers who had community-service forms in their files denied doing any work at Lowell Superior Court or at any other location.

On Aug. 18, 2010, Lowell police interviewed Okiwe, who allegedly admitted to police he accepted cash after the "no-cash" policy went into effect, but denied keeping the money.

He also allegedly admitted to submitting bogus community-service forms with a supervisor's name on them, but that was to cover community service done elsewhere. About the same time, the Probation Department confirmed that Okiwe had been placed on paid administrative leave.

Days after his interview with police, another probationer contacted Lowell Police Detective Gary Dillon to report that as far back as October of 2009, he used some investment money -- about $2,040 in cash -- to pay off 27 months of probation fees ($1,755), a DNA-testing fee and other fees he owed.

The probationer asked Okiwe for a receipt, but was told the Probation Office would provide a copy. Three weeks later, the probationer received a letter saying he was in compliance with his probation, but there was no mention of the cash.

The day after police spoke with Okiwe, he met with the probationer at the McDonald's at Drum Hill in Chelmsford. Okiwe handed over an envelope with $2,040 in cash along with three forms: one for DNA testing, another for victim-witness fees and the third for probation fees.

In reviewing the probationer's file, investigators said Okiwe listed him as doing community service, which he never did, and did not credit him with paying any money.

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